Assault on the Theatre of Dreams
At the exact moment Son Jinho was publicly declaring his revenge against Manchester United, Alex Ferguson sat with a grave expression, reviewing footage of the young player’s performances.
Jinho’s style of play carried the weight and intelligence of a veteran midfielder, far beyond what you’d expect from a teenager.
“…Fifty-four million pounds.”
The projected transfer fee for Son Jinho sat at 54 million pounds. Even accounting for the recent inflation in the market, it was impossible to deny how astronomical the figure was when compared to Wayne Rooney’s 27 million or Cristiano Ronaldo’s 12.4 million.
Ferguson was never one to hesitate when he believed a signing was necessary, but committing 80 billion won to a teenage prospect while completely ignoring the three core transfer principles he had established for himself felt like an enormous burden.
The board’s concerns also weighed on him.
“We acknowledge he is a world-class talent, but we remain doubtful about the physical durability of Asian players.”
Seeing Shinji Kagawa’s underwhelming performances at Tottenham this season, along with the recurring knee issues that plagued Park Ji-sung, made the board’s worries entirely understandable.
“The thing is… we’ve just paid off the PIK loan. There’s no money left.”
The massive debt the Glazer family had taken on during their leveraged takeover of the club continued to strangle the finances.
Had Ferguson planned to remain in the managerial seat and oversee a full rebuild, he would have pushed for Jinho’s signing regardless of the overpayment. But he had been seriously considering stepping down from the Manchester United job at the end of this season.
Ever since losing his sister-in-law last winter, his wife, Cathy Ferguson, had often appeared lonely. After losing her close friend and sister, Cathy had become emotionally isolated.
It was time to retire, to repay the woman who had supported him all these years, to stand by her side during this difficult period and give her strength.
When he arrived home earlier than usual, the house was quiet except for the sound of the television.
There sat his wife, staring blankly at the screen. The sight of her looking so forlorn and fragile made Ferguson reaffirm his decision to retire.
“Cathy…”
The moment he called his wife’s name to ask for her blessing on his retirement—
Bzzzz—!
Cathy’s phone rang. The moment she saw the caller ID, her face lit up instantly.
“Hello? Is that you, Winter?”
Alex Ferguson watched quietly. When the call ended, he approached her.
“I’m thinking of retiring…”
“I thought I told you that I would be the one to decide when you retire.”
Watching his wife swing her leg through the air in mock threat, Ferguson let out a soft chuckle.
It reminded him of the early 2000s, when he had been considering retirement. He had been taking a nap when Cathy kicked him awake with her foot.
“Still, try to come home early like today so we can talk properly.”
“Understood.”
That day, Alex Ferguson received a temporary postponement of his retirement in exchange for leaving work a little earlier than usual.
Borussia Dortmund traveled to Manchester for their Champions League round of 16 tie.
The day before the first leg—
The reply came the instant the message was sent. She must have been waiting for it.
That line was a classic dad joke that would become painfully overused in the future, but Han Gyeowol, who had not experienced the regression, immediately lost her mind the moment she read it.
If she had tried to cheer him up, the joke would have fallen flat. Thankfully, her reaction was exactly what he had expected.
She was so excited she didn’t even bother correcting her typos before firing off the messages.
I had been quietly reading her messages for a while before I decided to deliver the cold truth.
The moment I sent the message, I turned off the nonstop barrage of notification alarms, flipped my phone over, and went to sleep.
The next day.
As kickoff approached, Dortmund boarded the team bus and headed for the Theatre of Dreams—Old Trafford.
The stadium, often called the graveyard for visiting teams, came into view. We began warming up slowly just before the match.
“Hyung!”
“It’s been a while.”
With the passionate roar of the Manchester United fans as background music, I exchanged a quick greeting with Park Ji-sung and slowly scanned the Manchester United starting lineup.
I had been joking with Winter when I said I had “lost confidence,” but there was a grain of truth in it.
Compared to the United side of their prime years, the current squad’s overall class had dropped significantly.
It was bad enough that they had to bring back Paul Scholes, who had already announced his retirement.
The individual quality of the Manchester United players had clearly declined.
Ferdinand, Vidic, and Evra were still there from the glory days, but they were all past their prime and showing signs of age.
Looking at this squad, it was no surprise they had crashed out of the Champions League group stage last season and then lost to Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League.
‘Wow. It’s worse than I thought. How the hell did they win anything with this squad?’
Once again, I was reminded just how incredible Alex Ferguson had been in the original timeline.
This squad should have begun a rebuild long ago, but financial problems had kept them from doing so.
One might wonder how a club that spent 140 billion won on a Brazilian top-class winger could possibly be broke, but the truth was that Manchester United’s finances had collapsed the moment the Glazers took over.
The Glazer family had saddled the club with an enormous 580 million pound debt when they completed their leveraged buyout.
Had it not been for the managerial genius that was Alex Ferguson, Manchester United would have become the next Leeds United.
‘So that’s why they were called “Mangoo” instead of “Man U” in the future.’
Ferguson had been absolutely indispensable to Manchester United.
However… where there is light, there is also shadow.
The Glazers becoming owners of the club had a lot to do with Ferguson himself.
After the “Rock of Gibraltar” racehorse ownership dispute with John Magnier, the relationship soured. Magnier sold all his shares to Malcolm Glazer, allowing the American family to become the majority shareholders.
The Glazers then used the club’s own revenue as collateral to borrow money from banks and increased their stake to 98 percent.
Once Alex Ferguson and CEO David Gill—the two men who had carried the club on their backs—retired, Manchester United collapsed rapidly, eventually becoming the “Mangoo” of the future.
Well, that was all before my regression anyway.
“Let’s put on a good show.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kickoff time had arrived. The referee blew his whistle, and the match began.
Since we had sent Manchester City packing in the group stage, our plan for the round of 16 was to do the same to Manchester United.
Manchester United lined up in a 4-4-1-1 formation.
With Nemanja Vidić ruled out for a long-term injury, Ferguson had chosen Jonny Evans to partner Rio Ferdinand in central defense.
The midfield consisted of Michael Carrick and Phil Jones, with Jones specifically tasked with man-marking Son Jinho.
Thanks to that, Dortmund’s attacks were repeatedly stifled by United’s compact and organized defense.
Phil Jones and Evans, who were usually criticized for lapses in concentration, were in peak form today, successfully repelling Dortmund’s attacks.
Then, in the 32nd minute—
Startled by Lewandowski’s sudden intense pressure, Phil Jones produced a moment of horror.
Gündoğan immediately played the ball to Son Jinho.
Before even receiving it, Jinho had already scanned his surroundings. He effortlessly sidestepped Phil Jones’s sliding tackle and slipped a pass to Marco Reus.
With a silky first touch, Reus took possession and began racing down the flank.
“Borussen!!”
The Dortmund away fans erupted in support.
Rafael da Silva tried to block Marco Reus, but he was completely fooled by a simple feint.
Having beaten his marker, Reus glanced toward the penalty area and whipped in a low cross with the outside of his foot.
Lewandowski and Ferdinand rose for the header, but the ball flew past both of them and rolled toward the back post.
“No! Stop him!!”
David de Gea screamed as he saw Son Jinho bursting into the box.
Jonny Evans rushed in to block the shot, but Jinho didn’t hesitate.
He cushioned the bouncing ball perfectly with his chest, then slammed it powerfully into the net with his left foot.
Even though David de Gea had been in inspired form, his vision was blocked. He had no time to react to the ball that suddenly appeared under Evans’s leg.
Jinho’s shot ripped straight into the back of the net.
“Hoooooooouuuuuuuuuuu—!”
The moment he scored, Son Jinho sprinted toward the corner flag and began his celebration.
The ceremony flowed so naturally that Alex Ferguson’s face turned beet red and the speed of his gum-chewing increased dramatically.